THEORETICAL Strengths Of Materials.

[meb09JW]

Homework Statement

1) Why, in general, do brittle materials not achieve their theoretical tensile strengths?

2) Why, in general, do ductile materials not achieve their theoretical shear strengths?

Homework Equations

None needed. Wordy answer.

The Attempt at a Solution

Something to do with the stress intensity factor / defects for brittle materials??

Thanks.

 

[Mapes]

You're going in the right direction for the brittle part. What's your answer for ductile materials? It might be useful to think about how the theoretical strength is determined; that is, how the material is envisioned to fail when the theoretical strength is calculated.